Penetrium Bioscience tests new combination cancer treatment with Merck's Keytruda
June 17 (UPI) -- South Korea's Penetrium Bioscience said Wednesday that the company would start a clinical test combining its investigational cancer drug Penetrium with Merck's immunotherapy Keytruda.
The Seoul-based company noted that the phase-1 trial would enroll patients with certain types of lung and breast cancers whose diseases have failed to respond to prior therapies.
The trial will be conducted primarily at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, around 30 miles south of Seoul, according to Penetrium Bioscience.
The firm said that Penetrium is designed to disrupt the biological conditions that enable cancer cells to survive and metastasize. It believes that this approach could help overcome a major limitation of immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Penetrium Bioscience argues that treatment failures can occur when a dense tumor microenvironment acts as a physical barrier, preventing immune cells and therapeutic agents from reaching cancer cells.
Under the combination regimen, the Korean company hopes that Keytruda will directly attack cancer cells while Penetrium helps dismantle the surrounding tumor environment, thus allowing immune cells to infiltrate tumors more effectively.
This is not the first time Penetrium Bioscience has conducted such a combination study, as it goes ahead with a prostate cancer therapy with enzalutamide at Seoul National University Hospital.
"Of the 10 million people who die from cancer globally each year, more than 90% ultimately lose their lives due to metastasis," Penetrium Bioscience Chairman Cho Won-dong said in a statement.
"Our eventual goal is to create an environment in which cancer cells cannot survive, thus rescuing patients from the vicious cycle of agonizing chemotherapy and tragic deaths caused by metastasis," he added.
The share price of Penetrium Bioscience edged down 0.45% on the Seoul bourse on Wednesday, while the benchmark KOSPI gained 1.58%.
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 4:29 AM.